Burkina Faso Attacks: RCMP Dispatched After 6 Canadians Killed

Speaking during a question and answer session in parliament, Valls said six individuals opened fire on unarmed patrons at Le Cappuccino cafe before taking refuge at the nearby Splendid Hotel where they held several hostages.

French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui died January 18, after being wounded in a January 15 terror attack in Burkina Faso.

Friday night’s attack in Ouagadougou killed at least 29 people from around the world, including an American missionary, before ending in a siege at a second hotel.

Officials say about 30 people were killed.

Born in 1982 in Paris, Alaoui was in Burkina Faso on assignment for Amnesty International, the international aid group, the New York Times reported.

The exact details of the cooperation between Burkina Faso and Mali were not immediately clear, but the patrols and intelligence sharing mark an intent by the two countries to prevent the spread of militancy as AQIM and others expand operations in the region beyond their usual reach.

Alaoui’s mother told the French publicationle360 that her daughter was among those evacuated by the Burkinabe security forces.

Her latest show at Paris’ European Photography House featured portraits of Moroccan men and women in traditional clothes, the result of what she said was “a road trip across rural Morocco” using a mobile studio to preserve “a visual archive of Morocco’s traditions and aesthetic universe”.

“They were only three who conducted the raid”.

“We are working with the local authorities in Burkina Faso to determine and confirm what the families want”.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility, saying the unprovoked attack was meant to “punish the Cross-worshippers for their crimes against our people in Central Africa, Mali and other lands of the Muslims”. The attackers then assauled the Splendid Hotel next door.

“Three were killed and three are still being sought”, he said.

A police officer gestures during a visit by Burkina Faso’s and Benin’s Presidents to the Splendid Hotel.

The massacre was the first terrorist attack of its kind in the West African country.

In another sign that a regional Islamist insurgency is intensifying, an elderly Australian doctor and his wife were abducted over the weekend by unknown assailants in northern Burkina Faso near the Malian border.

Survivors said the militants targeted white victims at the hotel and at the restaurant, both of which were popular among westerners.